INCIPIENT TUBERCULOSIS 151 



INCIPIENT TUBERCULOSIS . IN FAMILY COWS 



Those practitioners who are located in villages and 

 cities of moderate size where ordinances have not yet 

 been passed prohibiting the housing of cows within 

 the corporate limits, have usually a number of clients 

 who keep a cow to furnish milk for the family. If 

 there are circumstances where the attending veteri- 

 narian should promptly recognize diseases and con- 

 ditions which affect the wholesomeness of the milk and 

 the ultimate w^ell-being of the' consumer, those cir- 

 cumstances are certainly found here. Those veteri- 

 narians who have been close observers and who keep 

 more or less closely in touch with their clientele can 

 name many instances in which sickness in the family 

 and the family cow are closely allied. Sometimes it 

 requires the most exact scientific discrimination and 

 well trained powers of observation to detect the 

 connection ; the veterinarian who has the training and 

 is conscientious can, however, make the proper deduc- 

 tions and sift the case down. 



To take under consideration the entire field for 

 study on this point would entail -almost endless writ- 

 ings. We will take up the one condition which is more 

 common in family cows than is generally presumed, 

 and will confine our remarks to the early stages of 

 this condition. 



Incipient tuberculosis in family cows deserves a 

 separate chapter in our text books. Despite the teach- 

 ings and theories of Koch and other equally eminent 

 investigators, there is a close connection between tu- 

 berculosis . in the cow and tuberculosis in the family. 

 I say family, not humanity in general. 



